February 3

2024 Calendar

February 3 is the 34th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 331 days remaining until the end of the year (332 in leap years).

Events

Up to 1900

619 - Laurence of Canterbury, 2nd Archbishop of Canterbury
699 - Werburgh, English saint (b. 650)
995 - William IV, Duke of Aquitaine (b. 937)
1014 – King Sweyn I of Denmark
1116 - King Coloman of Hungary (b. 1070)
1399 – John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster (b. 1340)
1428 - Ashikaga Yoshimochi, Japanese shogun (b. 1386)
1451 – Murad II, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1404)
1468 – Johannes Gutenberg, German publisher
1737 - Tommaso Ceva, Italian mathematician (b. 1648)
1820 – Emperor Gia Long of Vietnam (b. 1762)
1832 – George Crabbe, English naturalist (b. 1754)
1862 - Jean-Baptiste Biot, French physicist (b. 1774)
1867 - Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied (b. 1782)
1874 – William Charles Lunalilo, King of Hawaii (b. 1835)
1889 – Belle Starr, American outlaw (b. 1848)
1900 – William Goebel, 34th Governor of Kentucky (b. 1856)

1901 – 2000

1908 - Ferdinand Meldahl, Danish architect (b. 1827)
1920 - Frank Brown, Governor of Maryland (b. 1846)
1921 – Colin Archer, Norwegian shipbuilder (b. 1832)
1922 - John Butler Yeats, Irish illustrator (b. 1839)
1924 – Woodrow Wilson, 28th President of the United States, Nobel Peace Prize winner (b. 1856)
1929 - Agner Krarup Erlang, Danish scientist (b. 1878)
1935 – Hugo Junkers, German aircraft designer (b. 1859)
1937 - Marija Leiko, Latvian movie actress (b. 1887)
1944 - Yvette Guilbert, French cabaret singer (b. 1865)
1945 – Roland Freisler, Nazi official (b. 1893)
1948 - Louis J. Brann, Governor of Maine (b. 1876)
1951 - August Horch, German engineer (b. 1868)
1952 - Harold L. Ickes, American politician (b. 1874)
1955 - Vasili Blokhin, Soviet general chief executioner of almost 22 000 Poles in Katyn Forest (b. 1895) (suicide, February 3)
1956 - Johnny Claes, Belgian racing driver (b. 1916)
1959 - "Day the Music Died":
- Buddy Holly, American singer (b. 1936)
- Roger Peterson, American pilot (b. 1937)
- Ritchie Valens, American musician (b. 1941)
- The Big Bopper, American musician (b. 1930)
1960 – Fred Buscaglione, Italian singer and actor (b. 1921)
1961 – Anna May Wong, American actress (b. 1905)
1961 - William Morrison, 1st Viscount Dunrossil, Governor-General of Australia (b. 1893)
1967 - Joe Meek, English record producer (b. 1929)
1969 – Eduardo Mondlane, Mozambique independence founder (b. 1920)
1969 - C. N. Annaduri, Indian politician, 7th Chief Minister of Madras State (b. 1909)
1975 – Umm Kulthum, Egyptian singer (b. 1904)
1975 - William D. Coolidge, American physicist and inventor (b. 1873)
1985 - Frank Oppenheimer, American physicist (b. 1912)
1989 – John Cassavetes, American actor (b. 1929)
1989 - Lionel Newman, American movie music orchestra leader and composer (b. 1916)
1991 - Harry Ackerman, American television producer (b. 1912)
1997 - Bohumil Hrabal, Czech writer (b. 1914)
1998 - Karla Faye Tucker, American murderer (b. 1959)
2000 - Alla Rakha, Indian tabla player (b. 1919)

From 2001

2003 – Lana Clarkson, American actress (b. 1962)
2004 - Jason Raize, American actor (b. 1975)
2005 – Zurab Zhvania, Georgian politician (b. 1963)
2005 – Ernst Mayr, German biologist (b. 1904)
2006 - Al Lewis, American actor (b. 1923)
2006 - Romano Mussolini, Italian pianist and artist (b. 1927)
2011 – Edouard Glissant, French-Martinican poet (b. 1928)
2011 – Maria Schneider, French actress (b. 1952)
2012 – Ben Gazzara, American actor (b. 1930)
2012 – Samuel Youd, British writer (b. 1922)
2014 - Louise Brough, American tennis player (b. 1923)
2014 - Richard Bull, American actor (b. 1924)
2014 - Louan Gideon, American actress (b. 1955)
2014 - Joan Mondale, former Second Lady of the United States (b. 1930)
2014 - Bill Sinkin, American activist (b. 1913)
2015 - Frank Borghi, American soccer player (b. 1925)
2015 - Charlie Sifford, American golfer (b. 1922)
2015 - Martin Gilbert, British historian (b. 1936)
2015 - Mary Healy, American actress (b. 1918)
2016 - Mark Farren, Irish footballer (b. 1982)
2016 - Balram Jakhar, Indian politician (b. 1923)
2016 - Saulius Sondeckis, Lithuanian violinist and conductor (b. 1928)
2016 - Joe Alaskey, American voice actor (b. 1952)
2016 - Big Kap, American DJ (b. 1970)
2017 - Robert Dahlqvist, Swedish rock musician (b. 1976)
2017 - Yoshiro Hayashi, Japanese politician (b. 1927)
2017 - Hassan Joharchi, Iranian actor (b. 1968)
2017 - Lou Rowan, Australian cricket umpire (b. 1925)
2017 - Benny Perrin, American football player (b. 1959)
2017 - John M. Hayes, American scientist (b. 1940)
2017 - Richard Lyon, American admiral and politician (b. 1923)
2017 - Shumon Miura, Japanese author (b. 1926)
2018 - Michael Harner, American anthropologist and author (b. 1929)
2018 - Dirk Bernard Joseph Schouten, Dutch economist (b. 1923)
2018 - Hukum Singh, Indian politician (b. 1938)
2018 - Rolf Zacher, German actor (b. 1941)

Births

1901 – 1950

1903 – Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, Scottish aviator (d. 1973)
1907 – James A. Michener, American writer (d. 1997)
1909 – Simone Weil, French philosopher (d. 1943)
1911 – Jehan Alain, French composer (d. 1940)
1911 - Robert Earl Jones, American actor (d. 2006)
1912 - Jacques Soustelle, French anthropologist (d. 2006)
1914 - Mary Carlisle, American actress
1915 - Stuart Archer, British recipient of the George Cross (d. 2015)
1915 – Boris Paichadze, Georgian footballer (d. 1990)
1918 - Joey Bishop, American entertainer (d. 2007)
1920 - Henry Heimlich, American physician (d. 2016)
1924 - Friedrich Wilhelm, Prince of Hohenzollern, German aristocrat (d. 2010)
1925 – Leon Schlumpf, Swiss Federal Councillor (d. 2012)
1925 - Shelley Berman, American actor, comedian and writer (d. 2017)
1926 – Hans-Jochen Vogel, German politician
1927 – Val Doonican, Irish singer and entertainer (d. 2015)
1927 - Blas Ople, Filipino politician (d. 2003)
1927 - Kenneth Anger, American filmmaker and writer
1927 - Indra Bahadur Rai, Indian writer (d. 2018)
1927 - Sarah Jiménez, Mexican artist (d. 2017)
1928 - Ingemar Haraldsson, Swedish footballer (d. 2004)
1932 – Michael Martin, American philosopher (d. 2015)
1932 - Stuart Hall, Jamaican-British cultural theorist and sociologist (d. 2014)
1933 - Paul Sarbanes, American politician (d. 2020)
1935 - Johnny "Guitar" Watson, American musician (d. 1996)
1937 - Jacques Barrot, French politician (d. 2014)
1938 - Emile Griffith, American boxer (d. 2013)
1939 - Michael Cimino, American movie director (d. 2016)
1943 – Blythe Danner, American actress
1943 – Dennis Edwards, American singer (The Temptations) (d. 2018)
1943 - Shawn Philipps, American guitarist, singer and songwriter
1947 – Dave Davies, English musician (The Kinks)
1947 – Paul Auster, American writer
1948 – Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, East Timorese bishop and Nobel Peace Prize winner
1948 – Henning Mankell, Swedish writer (d. 2015)
1950 – Morgan Fairchild, American actress

1951 – 1975

1951 - Eugenijus Riabovas, Lithuanian football manager
1951 – Blaise Compaoré, former President of Burkina Faso
1954 - Tiger Williams, Canadian ice hockey player
1955 – Stephen Euin Cobb, American writer
1955 – Bruno Pezzey, Austrian footballer (d. 1994)
1955 – Kirsty Wark, Scottish broadcast journalist
1956 - Nathan Lane, American actor
1956 - Lee Ranaldo, American musician
1958 - Joe F. Edwards, Jr., American basketball player
1959 - Lol Tolhurst, English musician (The Cure)
1959 - Fredric Lehne, American actor
1960 – Joachim Löw, German football trainer
1961 - Jay Adams, American skateboarder (d. 2014)
1963 – Stefano Mei, Italian sportsperson (athletics)
1964 – Michael Rummenigge, German footballer
1965 - Maura Tierney, American actress
1966 - Franco Coraci, American movie director
1967 – Mixu Paatelainen, Finnish footballer and coach
1969 - Beau Biden, American attorney and politician (d. 2015)
1970 - Warwick Davis, British actor
1971 – Sarah Kane, British playwright (d. 1999)
1972 – Mart Poom, Estonian footballer
1975 - Brad Thorn, New Zealand rugby player

From 1976

1976 - Mathieu Dandenault, Canadian ice hockey player
1976 – Isla Fisher, Australian actress
1977 - Marek Zidlicky, Czech ice hockey player
1977 – Daddy Yankee, Puerto Rican singer
1978 – Joan Capdevila, Spanish footballer
1978 - Amal Clooney, Lebanese-British lawyer and activist
1978 - Eliza Schneider, American actress and singer
1980 - Kim E-Z, Korean singer
1981 - Alisa Reyes, American actress and singer
1982 - Jessica Harp, American singer
1982 - Bridget Regan, American actress
1983 – Gabriel Sargissian, Armenian chess player
1984 - Sara Carbonero, Spanish journalist
1985 - Sergei Kostitsyn, Belarussian ice hockey player
1986 - Kanako Yanagihara, Japanese actress, comedian and entertainer
1988 - Kyuhyun, South Korean singer
1988 – Gregory van der Wiel, Dutch footballer
1989 – Vania King, American tennis player
1990 – Sean Kingston, American singer
1990 - Sterling Moore, American football player
1991 - Glenn McCuen, American actor
1993 - Getter Jaani, Estonian actress and singer
1993 - Mark Bennett, Scottish rugby player
1995 - Tao Tsuchiya, Japanese actress, model and dancer

Deaths

Observances

Christian feast day: Saint Blaise (Roman Catholic Church)
Heroes' Day (Mozambique)
Veterans' Day (Thailand)
Setsubun (Japan)